Part 1

The three-man space tractor hovered over
another ridge on Mars' rocky surface. This was the first manned expedition to
the red planet, and the astronauts inside where very excited. The pilot looked
at the radar, hearing a slight bleep. There was a green dot showing up in the
corner, over to the right. "Look at that," the pilot ordered to the other two.

"Looks
like we aren't the only ones on this planet..." stated one of the
astronauts. "We'd better take a look," he added.

"Ok,
then," the pilot confirmed, and turned the vehicle to the right.

The
group spotted something in the crater ahead ten minutes later. The pilot
stopped the vehicle at the lip of the crater, and they looked at what had shown
up on the radar. "Jesus Christ..." said the third astronaut. In the
centre of the crater was a city of some kind, with tall buildings. They were
different to the ones on Earth, but it was obvious what they were.

From
the city emerged two large, alien vehicles. They approached the space tractor
at an increasing speed. They seemed to have large gun turrets at the top, which
unnerved the astronauts. "They're gonna attack!" the pilot told the
other two.

"Arm
the lasers!" ordered the second astronaut. The third leapt out of his seat
towards the weapons control, and aimed them at the oncoming vehicles.
"Fire!" shouted the second astronaut. The third obeyed, firing a
laser stream at the aliens. It hit one of them, and it erupted in a ball of
flame and ripped metal.

"Direct
hit!" the pilot yelled, trying to put their tractor in reverse. Suddenly
everything went dark. The three humans were silent. "They cut the
power..." the pilot whispered, unable to see anything. Suddenly, the whole
vehicle roared and shook, and tipped on one side. The three astronauts screamed
as they were flung into the roof as their space tractor rolled down the crater.

ONE WEEK LATER

The
Secretary of Defence handed the President of the United States a document. The
President opened it up and read through it quickly. "And these things are
definitely hostile?" the President asked, without looking up.

"Without
a doubt," the Secretary of Defence answered, confidently. "They
destroyed our Mars vehicle, killing the three astronauts on board. We were sent
a message soon after, and they say that they will destroy Earth in
retaliation."

"And
how were you able to understand their message?" the President asked,
realising that it would be a remote chance foe other worlds to speak American,
as half of Earth didn't anyway.

"They
were using our language," the Secretary of Defence replied. "We are
not sure how. But with your permission, I'd like to allow our secret
organization, Spectrum, handle the problem."

"Very
well," the President said, handing the document back. "I hope they
can stop these Martians, or we're all screwed."

"Mysterons?"
asked one of the Spectrum agents. He was wearing a blue uniform. The man behind
the desk, wearing white, looked at him.

"That's
what they called themselves," Colonel White answered to Captain Blue's
question. "It's now obvious that there is life on Mars. However, they are
considered extremely hostile, and are threatening to destroy mankind."

"How
do we stop them?" Captain Scarlet asked the colonel.

"We
are unsure at the present time. We have been ordered to look after the
situation," Colonel White replied. "We have discovered that these
aliens can possess human beings, and this is how they sent a transmission to
us."

"What
can we do about it?" Captain Blue wondered aloud.

"We
believe these Mysterons can possess people on Earth. They may try to build an
army on our own planet. We need to find any Mysterons and dispose of
them," Colonel White answered.

"You
mean kill?" Captain Scarlet asked, knowing the answer before it was given.

"Once
a Mysteron takes over the body, the person is dead. So yes. They need to be
killed," Colonel White answered. "You must be warned, these Mysterons
are extremely dangerous."

Suddenly Lieutenant Green spun
around from the radio desk. "More have been spotted. We have their
location," he stated. Colonel White nodded.

"Ok.
Scarlet, Blue, Green and Brown, this'll be your first Mysteron attack. Be
careful. Dismissed." The four agents stood up and walked out of the room.

Captain
Blue gripped his assault rifle as the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle was driving him
and his fellow Spectrum agents to their first Mysteron encounter. None of them
really knew what to expect. The briefing they'd had had told them that those
possessed by a Mysteron were as easy to kill as a human. There was allegedly four
Mysterons in the warehouse, and nobody knew what they were doing there.

The
SPV stopped suddenly outside the warehouse, and the four agents jumped out into
the rain. It was almost dark, and the agents quietly ran over to the back of
the warehouse. They reached the door, and Scarlet looked at Brown. He signalled
for them to climb to the roof and get in the second floor, and for Blue and
Green to use this door. They nodded, and Scarlet and Brown ran to the pipe in
the corner. Scarlet started to climb first, and Blue watched the two agents as
the rain hit down on them hard.

Scarlet
finally managed to reach the second floor window and peered in. Nobody. He
opened it as quietly as he could, and jumped in. He landed on his feet
silently, his stealth training coming in handy. He leaned out of the window and
helped Brown inside, then looked down to Blue and Green. They nodded, and
quietly opened the door.

Blue
and Green entered the warehouse, and Green quietly closed the door. They both
turned on their night vision goggles, and everything in front of them came into
clear, green view. Slowly, they made their way along the narrow, wooden
corridor to where the voices were coming from. They reached an opening to the
main section of the warehouse, and could see five men standing around the room.
Blue tightened his grip on his gun, waiting for Scarlet's signal for attack.

Scarlet
and Brown crept across the second floor towards the railings, where voices
where coming from. Scarlet signalled to Brown to slow down, and Scarlet peered
down to the bottom floor and saw five men in the room. He signalled to Brown to
go to the stairs, and Brown silently obeyed. Scarlet pressed his finger against
his assault rifle's trigger gently, and aimed down at the nearest Mysteron. He
aimed carefully, watching as the man walked around, maybe on patrol. He stopped
walking, standing still for a few moments. Scarlet hesitated slightly, then
pulled the trigger.

Brown
heard the shot, and ran down the stairs, firing at the nearest Mysteron. He hit
one in the leg, but it spun round and fired its pistol at him, the bullet
passing through Brown's chest. He fell backwards, over the railing and down to
the ground, out of site.

Blue
and Green ran into the main room, firing at the group of Mysterons as they
went. The Mysterons fired back, and they ducked for cover. They waited until
the firing had slowed, then hurled themselves different directions. Blue rolled
along the wooden floor, firing at two of the Mysterons, taking them down.
Another one fired at Green, and almost hit him as he flipped behind a wall into
the corridor.

Scarlet
noticed one of the remaining two Mysterons fire at him, and jumped over the
railing, grabbing a rope attached to a wooden post, and slid down to the ground
floor. He landed on the floor and fell onto his back, firing at the Mysteron,
hitting it squarely in the chest, sending it backwards into the wall.

The final Mysteron aimed at Scarlet, but
Blue fired the final shot in his rifle just in time, knocking the weapon out of
its hand. The Mysteron didn't have time to react before all three agents aimed
at it. Scarlet slowly walked towards it.

"What
the hell are you?" he asked him, ready to fire if the man so much as moved
suddenly. The Mysteron looked up at him.

"You're
not going to be around for long," The Mysteron explained, smiling.
"You see, we..." Suddenly, shots fired out, and the Mysteron fell
onto his face, dead. The three agents looked up and saw Captain Brown holding
his weapon at the body.

"Brown,
you alright?" Scarlet asked him. "I saw you take a round in the
chest."

"I
was wearing a bullet-proof vest. I was lucky," Brown explained. "We'd
better head back to base and tell the Colonel what happened here." Green
nodded.

"He's
right. Let's move out," he ordered. He turned around and headed to the exit,
followed by Blue and Scarlet. Brown watched them leave, looked down at the body
of the Mysteron he killed, then followed the others.